Artist returns with collection

WELL-KNOWN New Zealand landscape painter and former Southlander Nigel Wilson is exhibiting his work in the south for the first time in 20 years.

Wilson’s Retrospective exhibition is being held in Invercargill’s Chiaroni Gallery until March 23.

Wilson said he was pleased to be exhibiting in Invercargill after so many years.

The last time he exhibited in Invercargill was in collaboration with landscape artist Kevin Stevenson in Gallery 55, he said.

Why had it been so long?

“I guess I left Invercargill and never came back.”

Wilson had been the associate art teacher at Invercargill’s Cargill High School for seven years, but was now based in Alexandra.

The exhibition came about after an invitation from Chiaroni Gallery’s Greg McDonald, he said.

“I thought it was time to go back. I’m looking forward to it.”

There was no particular theme to the exhibition, it was just a selection of pieces he liked, Wilson said.

There were 19 artworks in the collection, showcasing a variety of his works, including works on paper and oil on canvas.

He was enjoying doing works on paper at the moment, he said.

“It is just a new direction. It is enjoyable and different and popular, so I’m pushing it.”

McDonald said it was “really cool” to have Wilson’s exhibition on at the same time as painter/sculptor John Wishart’s Abandoned Works exhibition was at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) Raw Gallery across the road.

“[Two well-known Southland artists’ work on show at the same time], that never happens in Invercargill.”

He attributed the growing art scene in Invercargill in part to the work of Kathryn McCully who was an instrumental part in the development of SIT’s planned creative arts centre project, he said.